Retracing JFK's footsteps

In the summer of 1963, on this unremarkable stretch of sand, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy watched his old friend Lem Billings launch a toy sailboat on the water.

This picture, showing the same spot over 50 years later, is one of several taken by Reuters photographer Brian Snyder, who decided to revisit iconic images of JFK's life and document the same places as they appear today. In the video below he explains his process.

This is the beach scene that Snyder went back to photograph. John F. Kennedy (on the left), stands beside his brother Bobby (second left) and daughter Caroline, as Lem Billings launches the little girl's toy boat.

The happy scene was captured just months before former President Kennedy was shot dead in downtown Dallas exactly 50 years ago, on November 22, 1963.

Video

Snyder explains how he matched up his pictures precisely with famous images of the former President. Photos by Brian Snyder, Cecil Stoughton, Robert Knudsen and courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Office of the Military Aide to the President. Editing by Marika Kochiashvili.